It’s funny, but as I’ve lost weight my PMS and menstrual symptoms have gotten more pronounced, rather than lessening. Doctors have you believe that super-heavy periods, painful cramping and other symptoms are a result of your morbid obesity. “Lose weight”, they tell you, “and things will get better”. Only for me at least, they’ve gotten worse. Before I had super-heavy periods that were 7-8 days long and regular (every 29 days or so). Now they’re completely irregular in timing, which I expected, seeing as how I’ve had not only dramatic weight loss (133.4 lbs. since April 2009), but major nutritional changes. But I certainly didn’t expect my PMS and menstrual symptoms to get worse as opposed to getting better. I’m definitely more irritable and down when I’m PMSing, and in addition to the aching thighs, legs and calves that I had before, I’m now getting the stereotypical sore boobs, too. Sore boobs, WTF? The only other time I’ve ever dealt with that was when I was pregnant. It was so bad the other night that I was just holding them as gingerly as possible when I got into bed (I don’t sleep with a bra on, obviously), and when Dan made a move to touch them (jokingly), I nearly bit his head off. Heh.
And the pain… oy. Midol Complete helps, but not nearly enough. Yesterday afternoon I took half of a Percocet (my own prescription, thank you very much, so you can go ahead and resist the urge to speed-dial the FDA) on top of a Midol Complete tablet, and while I was certainly a bit fuzzy feeling after that, the pain diminished significantly, so I was actually able to make it through the afternoon and finish up some franchise lead generations, rather than just lay around moaning.
Speaking of Percocet, it isn’t one of the most popular narcotics, is it? Everyone is all about the Vicodin. I’ve had both — Percocet after my c-section, and Vicodin after my wisdom teeth removal and gastric bypass surgery — and between the two, Percocet is definitely my drug of choice. Don’t get me wrong, Vicodin works, but it doesn’t seem to dull the pain as much. More than anything, it just knocks me out. Percocet, on the other hand, does a better job of taking the pain away. But I noticed that it makes me feel kind of disconnected from my limbs, and my breathing is definitely suppressed a bit by it, so maybe that’s why most doctors just prescribe Vicodin.
So why am I running around with a prescription for Percocet? Well, as I mentioned last Tuesday, I saw my surgeon’s assistant on Monday morning concerning the gallbladder attacks I’ve had, and in particular the severe one I had last weekend. She scheduled me for an ultrasound (which was negative for gallstones or inflammation) and a CT and HIDA scans (to check for general gallbladder function, as well as the function of my stomach pouch and intestines; so far I haven’t heard back from my surgeon), and offered me a prescription for painkillers to take for any subsequent attacks I might get again. She asked me to “pick [my] poison”, and my immediate response was Percocet. Like I told her, I’m not a druggie and I haven’t had much experience with painkillers, but of the three times I’ve been prescribed them, I felt that Percocet did a better job. So Percocet it is!
Anyway, I think I’ve name-dropped narcotics enough in this post, so I’m going to go paint my nails and then check work email.
This post brought to you by WeReward. All opinions are 100% mine.
As most of you know, I have been an active blogger for IZEA since early 2007 (wow — is it really going on four years that I have been doing paid blogging?). I've tried out just about every new program they've launched, and was disappointed that the launch of WeReward.com did not include support for Android phones. I'm on my third Android phone right now, and have no plans to switch phone types or even providers (T-Mobile, for those curious).
But a few weeks ago IZEA unveiled WeReward for Android, and I was quite the happy girl. It's great that there is WeReward for iPhone, but not everyone has an iPhone, you know? So I downloaded the Android version of the app and got started. And here I am, just a few weeks in, and I'm already halfway to 1000 points, which translates to a nice little $10 cashout via PayPal. You may think that $10 isn't much, but when you see just how easy it is to check in at different locations (just like you do with Foursquare), you'll be excited to do something that comes quite easily. And hey, why not do check-ins when you're out and about — it takes so little time, and before you know it you'll be racking up hundreds of points and will then be on your way to a $10 cash-out!
What I like the best about this app is that I don't have to change up my normal routine in order to participate. Going to the mall, to the grocery store, out to dinner, to the pet store, gas station, wherever — almost all of these places are check-ins, which means that the majority of my normal routine can earn me some extra cash. Whoo!
![[Sex toy review] Little Flirt](http://www.jenn.nu/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache/fad64c5a1d6c154c89349e00b4c20dce.png){kind=small}
Disclaimer: this is a review of a sex toy.
I am typing this from the waiting room of one of the hospital’s outpatient centers, where I was sent for a CT scan and a HIDA scan. I got here a few minutes late, thanks to a car accident that everyone was rubbernecking at, and then I waited fifteen minutes or so until they called my name. “Great!”, I thought, “Now I can get this over with and go on with my day.”
No such luck.
The tech that called my name handed me a large styrofoam cup filled with lemony-flavored contrast dye, as well as a small pitcher that must have a good 20 oz. of the stuff in it. Stomach capacity for this stuff? I do not has. Taste for it? Barely. It’s tolerable, but I’m not going to lie — every little bit it threatens to trip my gag reflex.
Oh well. I suppose there’s worse procedures to have to prep for, so I guess drinking as much of this stuff as I can in a one hour period isn’t too bad. (Although a thought just occurred to me — is this stuff low in sugar? I better ask before I drink any more… with the sheer quantity of liquid I’m expected to drink, subsequent dumping off of its sugar contents would be very bad indeed!)
Edit: I just asked. It’s sugar-free. Whew!
Once upon a time, I had no idea how to build a website. The year was 1998, and my mom had just purchase a Gateway 2000 computer for about $2300. It was a sweet set-up — 21″ monitor (CRT, of course), a generous 4GB hard drive, 64MB of blazing-fast RAM, and a just-released 266mHz processor. We had dial-up thanks to Earthlink, and I decided I wanted to make a webpage for myself. I had no idea how to, so I queried a few search engines (Lycos and AltaVista, IIRC), and then found a bulky, clunky template builder that helped me get up and running.
Twelve years later and not much has changed, well, besides just about everything I described in the first paragraph. But people still want to build websites, and many people don’t know how. You don’t just discover and become madly skilled with WordPress and the hard coding of HTML and CSS overnight. Enter sites like hPage.com. hPage.com allows you to quickly create your own space on the web. With 300MB of space and 300+ templates to play around with, there’s something for everyone. Getting started with hPage.com is as easy as picking a username, a password, entering and verifying your email address (FYI, hPage.com is one of those websites that doesn’t believe .nu is a valid extension, so you’ll need a .com/.net/.org email address), answering the CAPTCHA, then logging in and getting started.
In a matter of minutes I put this together:
It’s simple, yes, with no bells or whistles, but simple and uncomplicated is good for someone who doesn’t have web design skills. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who wants to quickly set up a personal space. It’s great for tweens and teens, too. In fact, with my brothers coming home in just seven days, I think hPage.com would make a good resource for both of them. They’ve been asking me to set up websites for them, but I just don’t have the time, you know? With hPage.com, they can do it themselves!
As the domain name suggests, my name is Jenn, and I own this blog. I'm 26 years old and married to my one true ♥, Daniel. And while I have two kids (Alyssa is five, and Ryan is three), you won't find "mommy" in my username or email address, nor does my blog revolve around them. I'm a mother, but most importantly I am me, with a passion for love, blogging, reading, and photography. I'm also a busy freelance writer, web designer & SEO goddess.
